alt Hacker NewsI’m honestly unconvinced that the “or later” clause of the GPLv2 license is legally valid. Can anyone think of any example where contract terms get to be reinvented by a self-interested third party whenever they choose?
I’m honestly unconvinced that the “or later” clause of the GPLv2 license is legally valid. Can anyone think of any example where contract terms get to be reinvented by a self-interested third party whenever they choose?
The "or later" is a separate issue, I think.
IIRC, the FSF generally insists on getting assigned the copyrights on all GNU software, so the FSF can re-license any new version of their software under any license they choose to, which is currently GPLv3.
Users/vendors can still choose GPLv2 for the older versions of GNU software, which I think is what Apple does for the few remaining GNU software they ship.